Title Pages: Batman Strikes #16

It’s time for another installment of Title Pages, featuring another title page from my run on The Batman Strikes! which was a tie-in comic for The Batman animated TV series. A Title Page is the page which features the story title and credits for the issue, and is often (but not always) a Splash Page, which is a full-page image, rather than a page broken up into multiple panels.

The Batman Strikes! #16 featured a storyline where the Joker steals the Batmobile (Oh, NOES!). This issue gave me a full-page splash to play with for my title page, but it was actually page TWO, and followed directly on the heels of this page one:

Strikes #16 page 1

The sound effects on page one and the title page to follow were hand-drawn by me. As I’ve said before, I love doing my own sound effects lettering, because I enjoy it but more importantly because I can better incorporate the sound effects into the pages’ composition and design. I had wanted the effect in the bottom three panels of page one of the light from the approaching Batmobile’s headlights creeping up Batman’s figure. Notice the curved shape on Batman’s cape in the bottom-left panel above the sound effect. The light then reaches Batman’s shoulder in the next panel, then reaches his face in the bottom right panel. Sadly the colorist didn’t pick up on this and the dark gray colors were used for Batman’s costume and the effect was lost.

Strikes #16 – Title Page pencils

Strikes #16 – Title Page color

 

Hey, at least the logo pops! The character length of the story title gave me an opportunity to pay homage to another version of the Batman comic logo, as I’d previously done in The Batman Strikes! #8. You can see the logo I was referencing in Batman Strikes #16 in this blog entry from Todd Klein’s Blog.

I always found the really angular drawing style of the show’s animation design a little hard to work with, and I think that’s on display here. The Batman figure is a little blocky and awkward. The script called for Batman to see who was driving the Batmobile, even though in the show the windows all have a mirror finish, but that’s a minor fudge for storytelling purposes.

This was the Batmobile design from the first season of the TV show, and it would soon be replaced with something less stubby-looking in both the show and the comic.

I’ll have more installments of Title Pages soon, but until then you can check out previous installments! As always, questions and comments are welcome!

Young Justice: The Trade Paperback!

Next month DC Comics will release a trade paperback collecting the first seven issues (#0-6) of Young Justice, the tie-in book for the popular Young Justice animated series on Cartoon Network. My run on the title began with issue #5, so only two of my stories are featured in this collection, but it’s all a great read and I recommend you pick it up! The cover art (seen below) isn’t by me, it’s by Mike Norton who drew the first five issues of the series.

You can pick it up at your local comic shop, or if that’s not an option, it’s also available at Amazon.com. The 7-issue collection retails for $12.99.

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: DC Comics (January 17, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401233570
• ISBN-13: 978-1401233570
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 6.6 x 0.2 inches

Young Justice Vol. 1 - Cover by Mike Norton

Young Justice #11 review from IGN!

Young Justice #11 cover

The reviews for Young Justice #11 have started coming in!

Visit your local comic shop to pick it up, or you can pick up ALL issues of Young Justice in digital form!

http://www.ign.com/blogs/imad_khan/2011/12/21/young-justice-11-review

Young Justice #11 5-page preview

The spotlight turns to Robin, who must leave his teammates to fight alongside his crime-fighting mentor, Batman. And the stakes couldn’t be higher for the Dynamic Duo as they face off against the Demon’s Head himself: Ra’s al Ghul!

Check out the preview below and then pick up the comic in digital form or at your local comic shop!

YJ #11 page 1

YJ #11 page 2

YJ #11 page 3

YJ #11 page 4

YJ #11 page 5

Gerry Anderson’s UFO – part 1

Gerry Anderson’s UFO

Here’s a glimpse of a comic that never happened, a comic based on Gerry Anderson’s UFO, a 1970 live-action British Sci-Fi series from the same producers as Space: 1999 and Thunderbirds. A comics publisher had secured the rights to a comic book adaptation, and a 7-issue mini-series was mapped out. Issue #0 would have taken place immediately after the TV series, and would have essentially acted as a series finale. Issues #1-6 of the series would have picked up more than a decade later, acting as an epic sequel to the TV show.

The pencils, inks, colors and lettering were completed for the #0 issue, and pencils to #1 were underway when the plug was pulled at the publisher end due to lack of funds – another project that had been expected to fund this one hadn’t been the success that had been hoped for, and the money to produce and publish the mini-series wasn’t there. Valiant efforts to save the project were made, but the whole thing just folded. I’m happy to say I was paid for the work I completed, but I really wanted to see this project reach an audience.

The inks on the book were by Joseph Rubenstein whose work I’d known from everything from the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe to some of John Byrne’s issues of Captain America. The colors were by colorist Matt Webb.

Here’s a taste of the comic that might have been…

UFO #0 pg 01 pencils

UFO #0 pg 01 inks

UFO #0 pg 01 colors

As I have a copy of the lettered version of this page, here’s a look at what the finished page would have looked like.
 

UFO #0 pg 01 letters

UFO #0 pg 02 pencils

UFO #0 pg 02 inks

UFO #0 pg 02 colors

UFO #0 pg 03 pencils

UFO #0 pg 03 inks

UFO #0 pg 03 colors

UFO #0 pg 04 pencils

UFO #0 pg 04 inks

UFO #0 pg 04 colors

UFO #0 pg 05 pencils

UFO #0 pg 05 inks

UFO #0 pg 05 colors